Some old photos are new again: Star Wars Archives has surfaced some old photos of the Muppets visiting the set of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. These have been in print before (and that full-color photo has been around online for a while) but most of these haven’t been uploaded to the internet before. It’s a great look at Kermit and Miss Piggy hanging around with their puppet pal Yoda… and the people behind them, like Frank Oz and Jim Henson. I love when stuff like this shows up again after being buried, letting a whole new group of fans see some classics collide! Read more…

Maybe you’ve heard of Star Wars Uncut, the 2012 project that split the movie up into 15-second clips, allowed fans to pick a clip to remake however they liked, and then cut it back together into a full-length movie. Disjointed? Yes. Fun? Totally. Well, Star Wars is well and good, but every true fan knows that The Empire Strikes Back is where it’s at. Hence, the team has finally released Empire Uncut, using the same premise as the first movie. 480 fans worked on this two hour movie, which you can watch below. But if you don’t have the time, at least check out the trailer to see what they were going for. Read more…

Funko has made figures of… well, everything, probably. And their collection of SDCC exclusives are just filling small holes in an already impressive lineup. Firstly, they’ll be featuring Luke and the Wampa from Empire Strikes Back, complete with detachable arm. Adorable! But if you need a little more blood in your cutesy collectible figurines, check out their other exclusive, Hershel from The Walking Dead. Spoiler alert if you haven’t caught up with the series: his head is detachable. His shirt is just covered in blood… but I guess that’s understandable, given the whole head-coming-off thing. Good luck attempting to pick these up at SDCC! Read more…

Here’s a trip down memory lane: the original trailer for Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. It’s in some pretty rough quality, but perhaps that just adds to the charm. This trailer was particularly notable because it had no live-action video in it, just Ralph McQuarrie’s concept art zooming by at high speeds. Plenty of this art is for stuff that happens late in the film too, but I guess it’d be hard to parse all that while watching this for the first time. The narrator explicitly teases a battle between Luke and Vader, too. But best of all is him calling Lando “Landau Calrissian.” Early in development, eh? Read more…

As part of the May the Fourth Star Wars day yesterday, SlashFilm got something very cool to show the internet: scans of the original script of The Empire Strikes Back script by Lawrence Kasdan. The original was donated by Kasdan to the Writers Guild Foundation Archive, and they were convinced to scan a few pages online for fans to see. It’s a really amazing piece of movie history to finally see, and if you look closely you can see Kasdan trying to figure out Yoda’s speech pattern, as well as the original scene between Leia and Han before he’s frozen in carbonite (followed by the classic story in which it was changed on-set by Ford). Check it out after the break. Read more…

Volkswagon uploaded a teaser for their 2012 Game Day commercial entitled “The Bark Side.” The short features a group of adorable pups barking out John Williams’ “Imperial March,” with complete with some ATAT-cosplay at the end. The whole commercial is beyond adorable, and while I’m not sure what it has to do with selling cars, there’s no denying how awesome it is. In the span of a few short hours, the clip has attracted 50,000 views. To learn more, check out Volkswagon’s official game day invite page here. Read more…

Check out this neat little recreation of the Battle of Hoth from The Empire Strikes Back by youtube user TheToma69. It was crafted using Xbox Live! Arcade’s FortressCraft. I’m sure some of you probably wondering what that is, and the answer is yes, it’s just another MineCraft clone, but it also happens to be the highest grossing indie title on Xbox Live, and I’d say this was pretty good for something built on a home console. Read more…

The year is 1980 and what you don’t quite understand as young fanboy is that your parents are dealing with a recession — so while you dream of giant Kenner playlets for your Land of the Jawas playset action figures instead you settle for using your imagination! Or at least that’s what your cash strapped parents told you to do, so alas the sandbox became Tatooine and when you were lucky to get a snow storm it was time to play on planet Hoth. Well through some magic we’ve come across three amazing vintage Kenner playsets from 1979 and 1980 — a magical time when the hype and merchandise machine for The Empire Strikes back was going into high gear: Read more…

This Star Wars-themed Wampa pound cake was recently designed by Star Wars fan & professional illustrator Alica Policia for her 30th birthday. Pretty amazing, right? Made with her mother’s classic sour cream pound cake recipe and featuring some fantastic buttercream icing, one might wonder why she didn’t bother going all the way by adding a layer of ice cream. After all, Hoth has plenty of ice — you’d think it’d be a necessity.

I spend so much of my time online these days that it’s no wonder I’ve forgotten how much fun it can be to take a camping trip. While I have to admit the notion of being away from my precious array of electronic devices scares the hell out of me, it wouldn’t hurt to unplug every once in awhile. Though I wouldn’t be able to bring along my copy of Family Guy: It’s a Trap, or my new LED TV, I can keep the Star Wars spirit alive with this awesome Tauntaun sleeping bag. As you’ll note from the picture above, the bag itself features a Tauntaun-head for a pillow. It also comes with a lightsaber shaped zipper so you can attempt your best Han Solo impression. Don’t worry, it probably won’t smell as bad — that is, unless you refuse to bathe or you’re camping on Dagobah. They usually retail for $99, but you can snag one for 20% if you order yours from ThinkGeek today.

This is a beautifully done series of art posters created for the collectible art house Mondo. Shown above is Star Wars by the artist Olly Moss — here are some other nice gems that are part of the series: Read more…

It might seem a bit unwieldy, or dare I say a tad cartoonish — if that’s even a word — but I’m pretty sure this is probably one of the coolest plush backpacks a kid could ever want. Modeled after Boba Fett’s original jet pack, as seen in Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, this plush bag comes complete with multiple pockets and adjustable straps that fit both kids and adults alike. There’s even multiple pockets for documents such as Death Star plans, thermal detonators, and more. If you’re interested, you can pick one up from ThinkGeek for roughly $50, though if given the choice, I think I’d rather have C-3PO myself . Still, no kid in their right mind would ever want to haul a protocol droid around school if they could have a rocket pack instead, right?

While this is awesome, it’s also kind of terrifying. What you see before you is Lego enthusiast Angus MacLane’s entry into the FBTB MOC Madness 2010 Building Tournament. Each year, Lego Star Wars fan site From Bricks to Bothans hosts the tournament, and in a nod to Empire Strikes Back, this year’s tournament requires you to create your own intergalactic bounty hunter, and their ship. Angus took this opporunity to create his very own McDonalds-inspired Corellian freighter, piloted by what appears to be Ronald McFett and an R2-Grimace. Why he decided to mix the two is completely beyond me. Besides, I’ve always thought the Millennium Falcon looked more like a York Peppermint Pattie.

This is yet another example of why I love The Empire Strikes Back so much. I’d point out how Shakespearean the film was — being a tragedy and all — but plot aside, it’s inspired so many awesome products. Take this amazing backpack for example. Sure it was sad to see C-3PO strapped to Chewbacca’s back, but whoever thought to turn him into a portable storage device was a genius. The backpack actually comes with light up eyes and the ability to reassemble the droid, should you feel the need. Read more…

This fan video stars Luke Starkiller in a faux fifties styled trailer for a 3D version of The Empire Strikes Back. Of course this is very fitting as Lucas owed a great deal of his inspiration to the chapter films of a previous era, although those films were from the 30s and 40s. I like the fact that the editor of this fan video made it a point to go the extra mile and use footage from films from that era instead of just using the Star Wars footage on black and white. Read more…

It’s probably not as warm as the insides of a Tauntaun, but now you can own your very own Wampa rug straight from the icy caverns of Hoth. Sure, it might be synthetic fur, and have claws of vinyl, but what would you expect for a fictional beast? Besides, it’s not like your friends have ever encountered one in person and lived to tell about it. The rugs will start to ship out this August, retailing for $99.99 each. I’m not really sure how fast they’ll sell, but if you want, StarWarsShop.com is currently taking pre-orders — now, if only they’d toss in Leia. Read more…

From 1981 (well this commercial aired in 1982, but you know what I mean) comes this spot for the Kenner’s Yoda and R2-D2 sensor-scope action figures from the Empire Strikes Back collection. As why poor Luke Skywalker and poor old Obi-Wan Kenobi don’t get a mention at the end of the advert I don’t have a clue. Although with some research I did discover that some lucky kids from this era could actually get a Dagobah action playset if they didn’t want to get dirty in the backyard: Read more…